Archives

Survivor: Andre Erlank describes how he was shot during a robbery at the Mnadi Spar in Pretoria. Photo: Phill Magakoe, Pretoria News

Graeme Hosken

February 06 2009 at 05:33AM

‘They were the devil. You could see the evil in their eyes.” This is the image that is stuck in the mind of Mnandi community watch member, Andre Erlank, who miraculously survived after being shot in the bloody attack on a late-night supermarket which claimed the life of his friend, Louis Viljoen, 39.

Describing how a gang of robbers, armed with handguns and AK-47s, opened fire on shoppers, motorists and community watch members rushing to help people caught in Monday night’s assault, Erlank on Thursday said it was an all-out assault.

“It was a cold-blooded assault. They went there to kill,” he said, adding that they were shooting at everyone, white and black.

Erlank and his son, Andre jnr, had just stopped at the Mnandi Spar to buy wood and charcoal for a braai when the gang of 20 robbers attacked.

‘It was a cold-blooded assault’

Erlank said he was watching a father and son walking into the shop when he saw a gunman run into the shop after them firing. “From then on it was war. There were gunmen running from every direction, arms outstretched, shooting,” he said.

Grabbing his two-way radio Erlank raised the alarm and called for help.

Three of the gunmen, posted at strategic positions around the centre, spotted him as he called on the community watch for help. Pulling open the door one of the men, who was smiling, shoved a gun at him and opened fire at point-blank range.

The bullet, which is believed to have been fired from a Colt .45, tore into his chest, hitting his artery before continuing through his bakkie’s window.

“When I saw the gun I knew I was going to be shot. I just shoved myself as far back into the seat and carried on calling out over the radio.

“I knew that if I did not, people were going to die,” he said, describing how he was repeatedly shot at.

Bleeding profusely, Erlank’s only thoughts were to get to his son, who was inside the shop. Unbeknown to him, his son had miraculously escaped death when one of the gunmen cocked a gun against his head.

The gunman stopped when he heard his accomplices opening fire on Erlank snr.

Collapsing as he fell from his car, Erlank desperately tried to crawl to his son, fearing the worst.

The gunman and his accomplices followed Erlank as he tried to crawl, repeatedly firing at him.

Even as Erlank collapsed against a wheel which was shot out by one of the gunmen trying to shoot him in the head, no other bullets hit him.

Convinced that he was about to die, Erlank made a last-ditch attempt to reach his son. “All that I remember as I crawled towards the shop was seeing a silver cloud around me as one of the gunmen who stood over me, his feet next to me and held a gun near the back of my head trying to shoot me. When I heard the gun go ‘click’ I knew I was safe. I knew I was not going to die,” he said.

Describing the look in the eyes of his attacker, Erlank said they had the look of the devil. “I have never seen a look like that before. It was beyond hatred. They wanted to kill,” he said.

The attack was aborted when members of the community watch reached the centre and ran to help.

“If it had not been for them I would be dead. They saved a lot of people,” he said, recalling how several members braved unrelenting gunfire to reach him and drag him to safety.

Erlank was rushed to hospital in a friend’s bakkie clutching at his artery in a desperate bid to stop himself from bleeding to death.

Erlank said he learnt that Viljoen, who was killed when he was caught in an ambush set up by the gunmen’s accomplices, was dead while he was in hospital.

He said the gunmen were everywhere. “Some were outside the centre, others were inside and even more had hidden in the parking lot,” he said. Describing how she heard over the radio that her husband was shot and then the unrelenting shooting, Erlank’s wife, Margaret, said she had gone lame.

“I could not move. My legs were like lead. I freaked out when I heard his calls for help, then his friends yelling hysterically and then the shooting. It sounded like a battle in Iraq,” she said.

Police last night confirmed that two more suspects had been arrested.

Wierdabrug police station commissioner, Senior Superintendent Neels Kleynhans, said the men were arrested in the area. The arrests bring the number held to four.

Two men were caught less than 2km from the Spar in possession of R4 000 in cash and an unlicensed handgun believed to have been used in the attack.

While Kleynhans declined to comment on where the latest suspects were arrested, it is believed they were caught near Olievenhoutbosch.

He confirmed that more arrests were imminent.

Viljoen is to be buried on Friday in Centurion.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on February 06, 2009

Share this:

Like this:

Related

One Response

My wife and I “walked” into an armed robbery at Fruit and Veg City in Rynfield Benoni on Sunday 15 Feb 09. They took my handgun and my wife’s bag. Thank God I did not get the chance to shoot the 2 that held us up with a handgun and a AK as there was 13 more of them that we did not know about at the time. I love my country. I have no where else to go. I truely believe the time has come.

Top Clicks

Recent Posts

Archives

Archives

More Quotes

I'm sure as that day comes I will go and knock at the door of heaven and I know what they will say, they will look at their list and say: 'Your name is not there, can you try next door?' I won't go next door because if I went there I know what will happen to me, I will burn for the rest of eternity. I will look for a branch of the African National Congress in that world and join it.Nelson MandelaRecipient of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

Afrikaner women are lower than rats, closer related to plants, just fit enough to be raped in an act of genus preservationNadine Gordimer, Knighted, Nobel Prize winner.

I hate the Afrikaner. I hate his ways, his language and of course his politicsNadine Gordimer, Knighted, Nobel Prize winner.

The Americans fight for a free world.
The English mostly for honor glory and medals.
The French and Canadians decide too late that they have to participate.
The Italians are too scared to fight.
The Russians have no choice.
The Germans for the Fatherland.
The Boers?
Those sons of bitches fight for the hell of it!Amerikaanse Generaal, George "Guts and Glory" Patton

Give me 20 divisions American soldiers and I will beach Europe.
Give me 15 consisting of Englishmen, and I will advance to the borders of Berlin.
Give me two divisions of those marvelous fighting Boers and I will remove Germany from the face of the earth.Field Marshall Bernard L. Montgomery (Commander Allied forces WWII)

Take a community of Dutchman of the type of those who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world.
Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots, who gave up their name and left their country forever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile, unconquerable races ever seen upon the face of the earth.
Take these formidable people and train them for seven generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances in which no weakling could survive; place them so that they acquire skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is immanently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, the marksman and the rider.
Then, finally, put a fine temper upon their military qualities by a dour fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism.
Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual and you have the modern Boer.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Their adventures and exploits form one of the most singular chapters of modern history, and deserve a clearer record than has yet been given to them.English historian James Anthony Froude on the Voortrekkers.